I picked up my first HDMI-capable receiver this week on sale, a Pioneer VSX-521-K which I'm pretty damn happy with. The sound quality is leaps above my previous receiver.
However, the problem I'm facing is with my HTPC; an ASRock Ion 330HT . It's connected to the receiver via HDMI but I can't seem to get it to send DTS or Dolby sound. I'm new to the whole HDMI game as I've always used S/PDIF Optical in the past. What do I need to do to get decent surround out of my HTPC?
I'm using MKV files with DTS audio through Media Player Classic Home Cinema. Checking the HDMI audio device's configuration in Windows does not present me with DTS or other surround options. I've updated the Ion/Nvidia drivers and the Realtek sound card's as well. I'm not sure how to proceed from here.
I did try and search both the forums and Google but I couldn't really find anything relevant for a new guy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by steelfrog /forum/post/21449926
I picked up my first HDMI-capable receiver this week on sale, a Pioneer VSX-521-K which I'm pretty damn happy with. The sound quality is leaps above my previous receiver.
However, the problem I'm facing is with my HTPC; an ASRock Ion 330HT . It's connected to the receiver via HDMI but I can't seem to get it to send DTS or Dolby sound. I'm new to the whole HDMI game as I've always used S/PDIF Optical in the past. What do I need to do to get decent surround out of my HTPC?
I'm using MKV files with DTS audio through Media Player Classic Home Cinema. Checking the HDMI audio device's configuration in Windows does not present me with DTS or other surround options. I've updated the Ion/Nvidia drivers and the Realtek sound card's as well. I'm not sure how to proceed from here.
I did try and search both the forums and Google but I couldn't really find anything relevant for a new guy.
I've set Windows to 5.1 speakers but I couldn't find any "control panels" for the Realtek device.
[EDIT] I should also mention that the optical output sound device does properly list DTS and Dolby Digital capabilities. HDMI only shows basic outputs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by steelfrog /forum/post/21450076
I've set Windows to 5.1 speakers but I couldn't find any "control panels" for the Realtek device.
[EDIT] I should also mention that the optical output sound device does properly list DTS and Dolby Digital capabilities. HDMI only shows basic outputs.
So if you click on sounds in the icon tray (lower right of screen), then select playback devices, you should see the sound device. Can you configure it to output multichannel?
Quote:
Originally Posted by capsid /forum/post/21450156
So if you click on sounds in the icon tray (lower right of screen), then select playback devices, you should see the sound device. Can you configure it to output multichannel?
Yup, I sure can. I click on the HDMI device, click on Configure and I set it 5.1. I do the test and I hear in the chime in the appropriate speakers just fine. I'm fairly certain I'm getting some kind of surround, but definitely not DTS or Dolby Digital.
When I check 'Supported formats', I don't see DTS nor Dolby Digital, but they appear in my Optical playback device though.
When I play a DTS-enabled MKV, my receiver's not displaying the DTS logo as it should.
Ok, so you need to get the DTS and HD audio formats showing up in the device properties. What happens if you disable the SPDIF device and make the HDMI default? Are you running Win7?
Quote:
Originally Posted by capsid /forum/post/21450198
Ok, so you need to get the DTS and HD audio formats showing up in the device properties. What happens if you disable the SPDIF device and make the HDMI default? Are you running Win7?
Not sure, but sometimes it's best not to have conflicts. But I think your problem relates to there being no DTS and HD audio listed in the supported formats.
Quote:
Originally Posted by capsid /forum/post/21450351
Not sure, but sometimes it's best not to have conflicts. But I think your problem relates to there being no DTS and HD audio listed in the supported formats.
Agreed. There must be something trivial I'm not seeing here. Do I have to install any weird filters or codecs? I mean I figured MPC:HC would do everything out of the box.
You are already sending multichannel from your PC to amp, not all drivers/hardware support passthrough of DD/DTS, it 'unpacks' to Multichannel (simular to a PS3 eg.) same-same but without the fancy logo. Make sure you set your bitrate to the highest setting possible in one of the other tabs.
I don't think your HTPC will output DTS over the HDMI connection yet it will over SPDIF. From the Asrock website
Quote:
Utilizing the industry’s leading audio solution, DTS Connect® Surround Technology, ASRock NetTop ION 330HT series provides a better way of feeling the home entertainment perfection. DTS Connect® would be the perfect solution to enhance your entertainment experience using your home theater's Audio/Video Receiver. DTS Connect® is comprised of two DTS technologies, DTS Neo: PC™ and DTS Interactive™. DTS Neo: PC™ takes 2-channel (stereo) audio and transforms it into a full-bandwidth matrix of your speaker layout (up to 7.1 channels). DTS Interactive™ encodes digital audio sources into DTS Digital Surround, which can then stream out to your Audio/Video Receiver using an S/PDIF connection.
Yes, you can test that with the 30 day free trial of PowerDVD. In the new version 11 there is now a third output mode to select for bit streaming audio.
Out of interest, what formats are shown as being supported on the NVIDIA HDMI device?
Quote:
Originally Posted by capsid /forum/post/21450710
Yes, you can test that with the 30 day free trial of PowerDVD. In the new version 11 there is now a third output mode to select for bit streaming audio.
Out of interest, what formats are shown as being supported on the NVIDIA HDMI device?
If that's really what yours says ("No compressed formats found"), then your receiver is not telling the computer that it supports DD/DTS. I'd look around for any HDCP hacks that might force it through.
I went through the same problems with my setup until I figured out that passthrough for 5.1/DTS does not work with the device drivers provided with the hardware.
To fix the problem you will need to download two free programs from the internet.
2) program for setting the default sound and video drivers.
Once these are properly configured passing DD5.1 and DTS over HDMI to your display is no problem. I connect the Media Center PC to my display via HDMI and then connect the optical out of the Samsung Flatscreen to my Suround Proccesser. After getting the MediaCenter correctly configured, both DD5.1 and DTS passes from the MediaCenter PC to the Surround Processer over the HDMI/Optical connections.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Embry /forum/post/21455912
OK,
I went through the same problems with my setup until I figured out that passthrough for 5.1/DTS does not work with the device drivers provided with the hardware.
To fix the problem you will need to download two free programs from the internet.
2) program for setting the default sound and video drivers.
Once these are properly configured passing DD5.1 and DTS over HDMI to your display is no problem. I connect the Media Center PC to my display via HDMI and then connect the optical out of the Samsung Flatscreen to my Suround Proccesser. After getting the MediaCenter correctly configured, both DD5.1 and DTS passes from the MediaCenter PC to the Surround Processer over the HDMI/Optical connections.
Isn't that just passing the audio through the optical cable and the video via the HDMI? Steelfrog wants to get DTS via HDMI, he can already get DTS via optical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by capsid /forum/post/21456702
Isn't that just passing the audio through the optical cable and the video via the HDMI? Steelfrog wants to get DTS via HDMI, he can already get DTS via optical.
Yes, this is correct. As it turns out, I ended out going "screw it" last night and plugged in the optical cable. Turns out that I don't think my receiver will let me use optical in for an HDMI source or at least, I couldn't find the function anywhere.
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